The Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts
The Charles W. Eisemann Center is a regional performing arts venue located in the heart of the high-tech Telecom Corridor in Richardson, Texas.
As the civic anchor of Galatyn Park, the Eisemann Center is served by a DART light rail station and is surrounded by hotel, office, residential and mixed-use buildings.
The Eisemann Center contains three venues, with 1,500, 350, and 240 seats each. Connecting the venues on three levels is a dramatic lobby mediating between the performance spaces and the adjacent public plaza. A 42 feet high glass wall encloses the south and southwest sides of the lobby, drawing into the building the light and long vistas of the prairie.
A rather small site with three of its four sides exposed to public roads, a fast-track design & construction approach, and an ambitious program paired with a modest budget, were all part of the challenge to design a building that embodies the highest aspirations of the citizens of Richardson. Exposed cast-in-place concrete, clear glass, limestone walls, terrazzo floors and natural wood on the Main Venue walls give this public building an appropriate sense of openness, permanence and delight.
